BOC India's three plants in advanced stages of commissioning

Kolkata, May 17 (IANS) Industrial gas manufacturer BOC India, a member of the Germany-based the Linde Group, Thursday said its three plants at Jamshedpur, Taloja and Rourkela are in the advanced stage of commissioning.

"At the moment we are going ahead with the advanced stage of commissioning of three plants," BOC India managing director S. Menon told reporters on the sidelines of the company's 76th annual general meeting here.

Menon said the Jamshedpur plant with a capacity of 2,550 tonnes per day (tpd) for Tata Steel was likely to be commissioned in the next five to 10 days.

"It may be commissioned in the next five to ten days. Actually, final trials have been done. That will be India's one of the largest plants," he said.

The company's 450 tpd merchant plant at Taloja is also at the advanced stage of commissioning.

Menon said the 1,700 tpd unit at Rourkela for SAIL would need three to four months for commissioning.

"The commissioning of the plant will also depend on the readiness of SAIL to take the products," he stated.

He announced total investment for the three projects would be Rs.10 billion to Rs. 12 billion.

BOC India, which currently has about 50 percent exposure in steel, is actively pursuing projects outside steel like fabrication ,two-wheelers and glass to diversify its portfolio.

"In principal we would like to have a diversified portfolio. We actively pursue project outside steel, but we are not actively reducing our steel portfolio," said company chairman S. Lamba.